Last April Steven Cohen -- a bald man with glasses and thus, with the exception of having eight billion dollars to his name, is like me in most respects -- was reported to be interested in buying into the Mets. Then that all went away as he got involved in the bidding for the Los Angeles Dodgers.
But guess what? He still wants that minority stake in the Mets, and according to the Los Angeles Times, he is on the verge of getting that stake:
Not surprisingly, a hedge fund guy is hedging his bets. If he gets the Dodgers, he owns the Dodgers. If he doesn’t, he has his foot in the door and is through the approval process with Major League Baseball in the event that the Mets are sold outright.
In that case -- assuming the team isn’t in bankruptcy -- the blessing of Major League Baseball will be way more important than almost anything. And having given Bud Selig’s best buddy Fred Wilpon $20 million to tide him over will certainly put Cohen in Selig’s good graces.
But if he gets the Dodgers, he will have to sell that Mets stake. Which seems like it’d be difficult. But I guess we can file that under Billionaire Hedge Fund Manager Problems.
